Project Activities
The team convened an advisory group that included representatives from all types of Ohio public institutions (universities, community colleges and technical centers); ODHE; the Ohio Governor's office; and industry. The advisory group met regularly throughout the project to guide the work. The team built a logic model for the state's stackable certificate programs, including its objectives and metrics aligned to them. Based on initial discussions around this logic model, the team develop a quantitative research agenda with specific research questions. Next, they constructed a quantitative database and conducted descriptive analyses of student progress within the pathways, employment returns to credential-stacking, and growth in stackable programs at the certificate level. Based on findings from the work and stakeholder priorities, RAND, ODHE, and the advisory group collectively developed an agenda for policy and practice and a research agenda.
Structured Abstract
Setting
The research took place at all public institutions in Ohio, including four-year universities, community colleges, and technical centers.
Sample
The sample included all traditional-age and older students who completed a certificate in public Ohio institutions between 2005 and 2013. Most of the analyses focused on individuals who earned the initial certificate within three fields of study: health care, manufacturing and engineering technology, and information technology.
Credential-stacking was defined by first earning a certificate—an educational credential that required fewer than two years of coursework—and then going on to earn at least one additional educational credential, either a certificate, associate's degree, or bachelor's degree. The credentials could be earned in the same field or different fields.
Data analytic strategy
Descriptive analysis examined the characteristics of individuals stacking credentials, the types of programs and institutions in which students stacked credentials, and educational progression in terms of time enrolled and credit accumulation. The team used fixed effects analysis to estimate earnings gains from credential-stacking, and descriptive analysis of earnings gains examined variation in earnings gains across students, fields, and credential types. Descriptive analysis at the program level examined growth in certificate programs and the degree to which these programs were designed with features that support stacking and transitions into jobs. The team employed event history regression models to examine factors related to stacking and fixed effects models to examine whether programs offered by institutions contributed to increased rates of stacking and improved earnings outcomes.
Key outcomes
The team built knowledge among policymakers and administrators in Ohio on the functioning of stackable credential programs within the three targeted fields of study, and the promising evidence from the study on growth in stackable programs, individual credential-stacking, and earnings gains from stacking helped to support the state's efforts to scale stackable credential programs. The study identified potential areas for improvement and made recommendations about where stackable credential pipelines might be strengthened. The team developed a research agenda to generate additional evidence on stackable credential equity and support the scaling of new state initiatives to support stacking and has received grants from two foundations to carry forward this work. ODHE and the advisory group co-developed an agenda for policy and practice around initiatives related to stackable credentials.
Specific key findings include:
- Ohio public institutions scaled stackable credential programs between 2005 and 2019. The number of certificate programs offered by colleges increased, and many of these programs were being built with stackable features, such as embedding these certificates into degree programs, aligning certificate programs with industry certifications and licenses, and ensuring that articulation agreements were in place (Daugherty and Anderson, 2021).
- Many of the individuals who earned a certificate in Ohio went on to earn additional credentials, and most of the students who stacked credentials earned a degree. Fifty-nine percent of IT certificate-earners, 43 percent of health care certificate-earners, and 33 percent of manufacturing and engineering technology certificate-earners went on to earn a second credential within two years. Approximately 80 percent of credential-stackers went on to earn a degree within four years (Daugherty et al., 2020).
- Individuals in Ohio who stacked credentials saw meaningful gains in earnings, though there was some variation across different student groups. On average, students saw a 37 percent gain in earnings, equivalent to approximately $9,000 in additional earnings each year. Women, white students, and younger students saw larger gains in earnings (Daugherty and Anderson, 2021).
- Gains in earnings for individuals in Ohio who stacked credentials varied by credential type and field, with higher earnings gains observed for those who earned an initial certificate in health care fields, those who started with a longer-term certificate (i.e., at least one year of study), and those who went on to earn a degree (Daugherty and Anderson, 2021).
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Project contributors
Partner institutions
Ohio Department of Education
Products and publications
The products of this research included two research reports that detailed descriptive findings on programs, student educational progression, and earnings; a research brief summarizing findings from these two descriptive reports; two journal articles that employed quasi-experimental approaches to examine contributors to stacking; and a toolkit that provided strategies for institutions and policymakers to take to improve stackable credential pipelines.
Publications:
Anderson, D. M., & Daugherty, L. (2023). Community colleges can increase credential stacking by introducing new programs within established technical pathways. The Journal of Higher Education, 94(6), 745-765.
Bozick, R., Anderson, D. M., & Daugherty, L. (2021). Patterns and predictors of postsecondary re-enrollment in the acquisition of stackable credentials. Social Science Research, 98, 102573.
Daugherty, L. (2020). Making Improvements to Stackable Credential Pipelines: A Toolkit on Using Data to Drive Improvement in Ohio Postsecondary Institutions. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, TL-A136-1.
Daugherty, L. and Anderson, D.M (2021). Stackable Credential Pipelines in Ohio: Evidence on Programs and Earnings Outcomes. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, RR-A207-1.
Daugherty, L., Anderson, D.M, Kramer, J.K. and Bozick, R. (2021). Building Ohio's Workforce through Stackable Credentials. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, RB-A207-1.
Daugherty, L., Kramer, J.W., Anderson, D.M., and Bozick, R. (2020). Stacking Educational Credentials in Ohio: Pathways through Postsecondary Education in Health Care, Manufacturing and Engineering Technology, and Information Technology. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, RR-2938-IES.
Supplemental information
Co-Principal Investigators: Anderson, Drew; Bozick, Robert; Davidson, Stephanie; Rice, Cheryl; Sudkamp, Thomas; Visger, Brett
Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
